Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, has clapped back at Stephen Colbert after he claims CBS told him not to air an interview with a Democratic Senate candidate.
During Monday’s episode of The Late Show, Colbert said he wanted to broadcast an interview with James Talarico, a Texas state representative running for Republican John Cornyn’s Senate seat.
Colbert claimed his team was “told in no uncertain terms by our network’s lawyers, who called us directly, that we could not have him on the broadcast.”
CBS has said Colbert’s team “was not prohibited” from airing the interview, and was instead “provided legal guidance” that it could trigger the FCC’s equal-time rule, which requires broadcasters give equal opportunities to candidates running for the same public office.
Carr described the incident as “Democrat-on-Democrat violence” in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
“CBS was very clear that Colbert could run the interview that he wanted with that political candidate,” Carr said Wednesday evening.
“They just said, ‘you may have to comply with equal time,’ which would have meant potentially giving air time to Jasmine Crockett and another candidate. But instead of doing that, they claimed that they were victims.”
Colbert responded to CBS’s statement on Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show. He told viewers “every word” of the previous night’s script had been “approved by CBS’s lawyers, who, for the record, approve every script that goes on the air.”
When Ingraham asked about the last time the FCC enforced the equal-time rule, Carr responded: “It’s been a while, but complying would mean more airtime for more Democrats to say whatever it is that they want.”
“The equal time rule at its core is about stopping legacy media from picking winners and losers in elections. It’s so that the American people can decide,” he added.
There are exceptions to the FCC’s equal-time rule, including for “bona fide newscasts.” Traditionally, talk shows have also been considered exempt — but the FCC has recently moved to change that.
In a public notice published in January, the FCC said it has “not been presented with any evidence that the interview portion of any late night or daytime television talk show program on air presently would qualify for the bona fide news exemption.”
Carr told Ingraham his agency is going to “hold broadcasters accountable.”
“The days that these legacy media broadcasters get to decide what we can say, what we can think, who we can vote for, are over. I think President Trump played a key role in just smashing the facade that they still get to decide the narrative,” he said.
The Independent has contacted CBS and Colbert’s show for comment.
